OTC: Tim Grunhard Critiques Chiefs OL But Does Not Like What He Sees / KU’s Embiid Going, Going…

“Big trouble. Big trouble.”Tim Grunhard, when asked what he thought of the Chiefs allowing three of their offensive linemen to leave as free agents this offseason, 810 AMGH: Tim Grunhard came to Kansas City after being drafted out of Notre Dame in the second round in 1990. He was a mainstay with the Chiefs for 11 years as their center during Marty Schottenheimer’s successful regular season run yet some of the city’s most maddening playoff failures. He made big radio news in 2003 when he was part of the Maas Exodus from 810 to 610 along with Jason Whitlock and Bill Maas. He coached Bishop Miege HS to a state football championship in 2009. In 2012 Charlie Weis hired Grunhard to coach his offensive line at Kansas but after just two seasons Grunny was fired by KU. After listening to Grunhard’s frank interview with The Border Patrol, Wednesday, it appears the former NFL All-Pro center is willing to speak his mind about the Chiefs’ personnel more so now than ever before. Read on.

“I’m not sold (on Eric Fisher). No. He’s got to get a lot more physical and mentally he’s got to get stronger. The kid’s got great feet. He might have John Alt feet. But his punch, his physicalness…”Tim Grunhard, on his opinion of the Chiefs’ first-round draft pick and starting left tackle, 810 AMGH: Fisher has been promoted to left tackle almost by default. Grunhard mentioned that John Tait was able to learn how to play OL in the NFL after a very inauspicious start to his career. Let’s hope Fisher follows Tait’s same path.

“I’m gonna get in trouble for this comment but… We always said that the reason (John Tait) held out was because he was trying to get more tickets for all of his wives.”Tim Grunhard, on Tait being a Mormon from BYU, 810 AM

“Losing all three offensive linemen, that’s a difficult thing to make up for. Believe me, I tried that at KU. You lose three offensive linemen, it’s very, very difficult.”Tim Grunhard, 810 AMGH: Grunhard was laughing when he mentioned his struggles at KU but his meaning was obvious. Replacing experience on the OL is difficult at any level but even more so in the NFL.

“I think (Donald) Stephenson’s going to be okay. But they’re going to have to go into the draft (looking for offensive linemen). I know that’s not a very sexy thing to talk about – drafting an offensive lineman – because we haven’t done a very good job of drafting offensive lineman over the last ten years.”Tim Grunhard, 810 AMGH: Has it really been a ten-year lull? That begs the question; at what position have the Chiefs been successful at evaluating and drafting? It sure isn’t defensive lineman or quarterback. I guess running back gets the nod with Jamaal Charles and Larry Johnson. What have you got?

“The Chief are going to get a playmaker in the first round. Don’t worry about (them drafting a lineman). They’re going to get a wide receiver.”Tim Grunhard, 810 AM

“I think you need to find an upgrade (for Jeff Allen). I’m just not sold on the kid. I’m not sure about his punch. I’m not sure about his finish. He’s a fairly smart player but you don’t see that explosion from him coming off the ball.”Tim Grunhard, 810 AMGH: No punch? No finish? Yikes.

“(Geoff) Schwartz is a big loss. He was fun to be around. He was great in the locker room. You need a guy who can bring a little bit of levity, a guy who can break the tension. It’s a long football season with 17 weeks that you play with a lot of ups and downs. You need somebody who will bring a little bit of levity and have a little bit of fun to that offensive line. If you don’t have that, it wears on you.”Tim Grunhard, 810 AMGH: Schwartz was also just getting comfortable as a guest of 610’s The Drive. It will be interesting to see if the NYC media picks up on his playfulness and he becomes a bigger star than he was here in KC.

“I like (Rodney Hudson). I do. I like him. I think they should keep him at center. The kid’s starting to feel comfortable there.”Tim Grunhard, on the four-year veteran from Florida State, 810 AMGH: As tough as Grunhard is on most of the existing Chiefs’ offensive line, this is high praise from the Chiefs’ former center.

“I thought (McCluster) would be lights out, but he wasn’t. I never really saw it.”Tim Grunhard, 810 AMGH: Deuce just never got loose enough to justify his second-round status out of Ole Miss. I don’t see the Chiefs missing him – or any KC barbers.

“(Jon) Asamoah sucked!”Nate Bukaty, on the former Chiefs’ offensive lineman who is now with Atlanta, 810 AM

“Indianapolis Star: Colts owner Jim Irsay had $29,029 in cash in his car when he was pulled over by cops on 3/16.”Darren Rovell, @darrenrovell, TwitterGH: Cash? Was he headed to Costco?

“Kansas star Joel Embiid has decided to forgo his final three seasons of Division I eligibility and enter the 2014 NBA Draft, Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday. A formal announcement is expected soon.”Gary Parrish, CBSSports.comGH: This news hit early this morning but Embiid, Bill Self and the eastern side of the state of Kansas is denying its credibility. Read on.

“I say yes, that (Embiid) is lying right now on Twitter. I guarantee you in the next two days (Embiid will declare for the NBA draft). I think Joel Embiid is going to go to the NBA.”Aaron Swarts, 810 AMGH: A joke was then made that Embiid probably was not someone you could imagine who will be furthering his professional career as a former college athlete working for Enterprise Car Rental. SSJ then dropped one of the funnier line of the week at the expense of Mizzou’s sophomore big man…

“I can imagine (Mizzou’s) Ryan Rosburg giving the keys to a rental car to someone.”Steven St. John, 810 AM

“The committee needs to stop overvaluing Kansas and the Big 12. This league needs to be discredited by the committee! (Kansas) needs to be downgraded by the committee, not upgraded! … Stanford is awful!”Kevin Kietzman, after number-two seed Kansas was eliminated by Stanford and four other Big 12’s teams were eliminated before reaching the Sweet 16, 810 AMGH: Kietzman obviously hates Big 12 basketball because Kansas dominates the conference. He loves Big 12 football because his alma mater is one of the best teams in the Big 12. I think the conference is pretty damn good at both sports – something a local sports talk show host should get behind instead of allowing his anti-KU biased to govern him.

“Limiting the money for college athletes kills the prime of most college players money making potential! Many college studs are avg pros. Tell me Nike wouldn’t love to sponsor a ton of college athletes and use them for profit? Of course they would. Both sides win. How am I getting arguments that college kids shouldn’t be allowed to get million dollar endorsements? Why get a college degree? TO MAKE MONEY. Arguably the biggest impact of allowing endorsements would be athletes staying in school. What’s the hurry to go pro if you’re making money?”T.J. Moe, @TJMoe28, former MU wide-receiver, TwitterGH: I like the ideas of advertisers paying college athletes. It removes the question of how does a school decide who gets paid and who doesn’t – just those who the corporate world deem earn it. It works more like the real world – something to which our education system could use a lot more exposure.

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About Greg Hall

Software guy who has been writing my Off The Couch column in KC newspapers, publications and websites since 1994. Has been bounced from some of the finest media establishments this side of State Line Road. Dad first and everything else second...and there are a lot of everything elses.

24 Responses to OTC: Tim Grunhard Critiques Chiefs OL But Does Not Like What He Sees / KU’s Embiid Going, Going…

TJ Moe has a great idea. As far as it goes. Let advertisers pay whoever they want. Of course, what happens then is that Nike guides whole rosters of players to whatever school it wants. You do not think that might happen; I assure you it would.

so then mike you’re thinking they’d start “recruiting” them at the HS level like colleges do? if so, then the solution there is not allow that until after a player commits to a college, right? just askin’…

The dumbest thing I’ve heard anyone say about the NLRB ruling is that it’s “good news for all college athletes.” Oh, no, it’s not. If you’re a golfer, swimmer, sprinter, etc., it’s just about the worst news possible. When unionized football and men’s Bkb players start negotiating big slices out of the pie – whether you think they deserve it or not – scholarships in non-revenue sports will disappear. Educational opportunities will vanish. The law of unintended consequences will run riot.

Surely these players are also going to need representation. What happens when players get agents for these endorsement deals? I also believe this ruling will not apply to state schools. A lot of potential problems here.

Irsay may have been lamming it for some reason. Hard to disappear without a big bundle of cash to cover all expenses. But if not that, and presuming he didn’t have some big gun or drug deal going down, I can only conceive of one thing for towing that kind of jack around: Dude’s just full-on, bat-ass, deranged crazy.

The committee needs to stop overvaluing Kansas and the Big 12. This league needs to be discredited by the committee! (Kansas) needs to be downgraded by the committee, not upgraded! … Stanford is awful!”
Kevin Kietzman, after number-two seed Kansas was eliminated by Stanford and four other Big 12’s teams were eliminated before reaching the Sweet 16, 810 AM
GH: Kietzman obviously hates Big 12 basketball because Kansas dominates the conference. He loves Big 12 football because his alma mater is one of the best teams in the Big 12. I think the conference is pretty damn good at both sports – something a local sports talk show host should get behind instead of allowing his anti-KU biased to govern him.

Kansas has been better than Duke in the last 10 years of the NCAA tournament but don’t let any facts get in the way of a story from KK. The Big 12 was the best basketball conference this year. just about everyone agrees except the Haters.
KSU football has won one bowl game in the last decade and Snyder is 4-29 vs top 10 teams . If KSU is one of the best Big 12 football teams , the Big 12 football sucks.

Why not make college football/basketball a hybrid between pro/amateur? Allow each basketball team to have a maximum of 3 “pros” that don’t have to attend class and are paid $50k/year. All the other players on the team are your typical scholarship athlete.

The Chiefs failure to develop a QB is criminal. Talk about giving up on a position for 40 years. Please don’t draft any LSU players Dorsey,
I like Dorsey, but his draft in year 1 sucked! Look at the results, they were terrible picks.

Greg, how about a little love for our UCM Mules today? Local kids on national television Saturday at 2pm (CBS) playing for the title. Too bad the Tigers didn’t hire Kim Anderson years ago. Has only take 3 teams to the final 4 since being in Warrensburg!

Grunhard was not fired at KU. He resigned to be with his family while all of his children are in High School. It goes fast as I am sure you know Greg. Also ,he talked about how the death of the SM West Football player Andre Maloney hit him hard. If people will recall, Tim’s own father died from cancer at a young age. I believe it was his 1st or 2nd year with the Chiefs. Funny, KK never mentioned were other Big 12 teams should have been seeded or if they even should have been in at all. Go figure.

The sad part is KK will feel validated by Stanford’s loss and the whipping that Baylor took to Wisconsin. Truthfully, I believe that if K State had made a Final Four in 2010, that he would have a totally different take on the Big XII as a Hoops league. It doesn’t make his point correct, and he is doing it in his shock jock ways. He never wants to be wrong, even though most of his sports takes are.